Wilmington sports: Championship win for Wildcats hockey

Wilmington took an early two-goal lead and never trailed in a 7-2 victory over the Falcons in the championship contest at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena on March 11.

The Danvers High School boys hockey team’s magical run through the Division 2 North tourney ended at the hands of the defending state championships as Wilmington took an early two-goal lead and never trailed in a 7-2 victory over the Falcons in the championship contest at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena on March 11.

Danvers’ A.J. Couto, Mr. Postseason, added two more goals to end his playoff total at 10 in the losing effort. His first goal against Wilmington came 3:09 into the middle period and cut the Wildcats’ lead to 2-1. But the defending champs went on to score four unanswered goals.

“We just ran into a buzzsaw,” Danvers coach Kevin Brown said after taking his team to its farthest postseason run since 2005, two years before he took over. “They’ve been here before. They capitalized on every opportunity. They had a lot of speed. It was a tough game for us.”

It was just these two teams that stood in the North tourney heading into Lowell on March 11. Danvers (13-7-4), the No. 8 seed, beat Somerville, shocked top-seeded, one-loss Beverly, and then topped Concord-Carlisle. Wilmington (20-3-2), the No. 3 seed, beat Stoneham, Boston Latin and Lincoln-Sudbury and has now outscored its tourney foes, 22-5.

Couto’s goal in the second came on assists from Rob Buchanan and Joe Strangie. His second came on an assist by Stephen Ganley.

“It was a ballgame after A.J.’s goal,” Brown said. “But the killer was they came back 50 second later and scored.”

Alex Taylor played in net for the Falcons, who finished in second place this season behind Northeastern Conference North champion Beverly. Danvers won four straight including its regular-season finale heading into the Wilmington game.

“It was a nice job by our senior group to get it together when it counted in the end and finish strong,” Brown said. “They certainly created some good memories. We found a way to become a team. At times in the season you’re not going to be able to rely on some individuals to win a game and an in order to win you have to have all 23 guys on board.”